The present invention concerns audio signal processing and particularly relates to circuits and systems for enhancing the sound qualities in stereo systems, and also for overcoming certain signal degradation problems that occur passing monaural signals through the processor and in combining stereo source signals into monaural at the output of the processor.
When the spatial signal components picked up by stereo microphoning are mixed in the usual manner, i.e., by simply summing the left and right source of signals in accordance with a balance control called a "panpot", it is believed that some of the signal information is hidden by the more dominant phase opposed (i.e., 180.degree. opposite) components in the source signals. It is an object of this invention to process the source signals in a way that enhances the signal information when recording, broadcasting and reproducing stereo signals so that more of the qualities of the stereo source are perceived by the listener.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a processor for the above purpose, which also has the advantage of being compatible when combining certain types of encoded stereo, such as Dolby MP, into a monaural signal, and to pass without degradation monaural source signals, such as required in certain broadcasting and recording applications.